BRITISH WOMEN ARTISTS 1750-1950
a British Art Network Research Group
why research into women artists active from 1750-1950 matters
On this page you will find quotes from our members that explain the significance of research into the work of British women artists active between 1750 and 1950.
"Reflecting on my own art school education in the 1990s and my experience teaching in a Fine Art department today where the demographic is 80% women to 20% men, it is essential that the art historical precedents I direct my students to become broader in every sense. The canon on offer is infinitely impoverished and shifting at a frustratingly slow rate. This is why we need to uncover less considered artists and ask probing questions about the way history has been previously conceived, it is not just the subjects we need to see afresh but the way we go about comprehending them. Artist Lucy McKenzie in a recent Tate interview remarked ‘We need to make painting what we need it to be’ the we in her statement refers to women artists and I cannot agree more with the urgency of her sentiment." (Nadia Hebson)
"Scholarship by art historians and curators that draws attention to the work of women artists must be encouraged and funded to allow a balanced art historical picture to emerge. There remain many unsung women artists of the twentieth century. Some won the admiration of their contemporaries only to be forgotten by subsequent generations, others produced too small a volume of work to gain a significant reputation. If we are to provide an accurate portrayal of the art world we must be willing to reassess individual artists whom remain neglected, and look to place them within the context of the period." (Alice Strickland)